Take Action for Rikers’ Island Prisoners! Demand the City Create an Emergency Evacuation Plan

Mayor Bloomberg has announced that in the event of a hurricane, that he will not evacuate prisoners at Rikers’ Island, claiming instead to have a “contingency plan” in place. The experience of prisoners in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina shows that city authorities will abandon the basic rights of prisoners in the face of disaster.

We can’t let Bloomberg get away with this!

(1.) Demand the city create an emergency evacuation plan by 5pm today to evacuate prisoners at Rikers Island in the event that other areas in Zone B or C around Rikers Island are evacuated.

Call NYC Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs at (212) 788-2485

lgibbs@cityhall.nyc.gov

Twitter: @NYCMayorsOffice

(2.) Call on NY1 to investigate the status of the “contingency plan” for Rikers Island prisoners:

The city has no evacuation plan for Rikers Island, despite its low elevation and its nearly 13,000 prisoners. Please do not let these individuals, or the ones at the nearby floating Vernon C. Bain Correction Center, suffer.